Saturday, July 05, 2014

Mr. Gorbachev--Tear Down This Wall--and Have It Appear on Every Channel.

Yesterday on the 4th Dave and I saw each other and one topic of the discussion was my preference for late adoption of technology. I still play cassete tapes in my car and until this year used a film camera. In fact, other than the cell phone and email I would be fine with 1980's daily technology.
Jim Geraghty is waxing nostalgic over the 80's and notes its shared cultural moments.
http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot
He notes the top five performers on Itunes right now.
The performers of the top five singles on iTunes right now:
1) Five Seconds of Summer
2) MAGIC!
3) Sam Smith
4) Ariana Grande
5) Nico & Vinz
This stunned me, until I looked up what I-Tunes is--as I have never downloaded an I Tune or even know how one gets I Tuned.. but after that it is interesting to note that the stadium filling bands known to all pretty much stopped being manufactured in the 90's. Who today has songs as widely known as Springsteen, Madonna, Prince, Billy Joel, and of course Michael Jackson had in the 80's and into the 90's? Ga Ga? Miley? Bieber? nope. The closest are cross-over country artists like Taylor Swift.
T.V. shows like Cosby's or even Seinfeld do not exist. That is shows that half the country watched-AT THE SAME TIME-every week. The internet and the change in technology has shattered cultural markers. Now we have nothing in common but cute cat videos.
On the other hand, pierced faces and dyed hair are pretty bad but no one today need wear parachute pants. Progress!